7-speed DSG reliability?

As someone has totalled OH's rather nice 18 year old Lupo Sport, it looks like we'll be looking for a new car.



I can't really drive a manual car anymore, so we're looking for an auto. We've got a preference for VAG group, and it needs to be a smallish car.



Budget is 4-5kish. This basically strongly suggests Polo, Ibiza, or Fabia, with the 7-speed DSG. I dimly remember these having few reliability issues when they appeared, but then there were a lot of scare stories over the 6-speed wet-clutch DSG too, and I've had 2 now without problems, and quite a few miles.



What, generally, it to be expected, and any warning signs to look for, both with the box and the cars in general, beyond usual used car checks? OH does very few miles, performance isn't awfully important provided it isn't woefully slow :).



Thanks.
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
Modern automatics have come on tremendously compared with when I worked on cars for a living. I myself would not entertain a DSG type box. If I really had to have an auto I'd seek out one of the few "old school" torque converter jobs. However all autos have the potential to go horrendously and expensively wrong so one is not high on my list. This is a shame because I like driving them and invariably have one when visiting relatives across "the pond".

In your particular position would an electric car not be attractive? You say your a low mileage user. The performance is more than acceptable and the drive train is very simple.
 
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